Police in Winnipeg have noticed a spike in homemade guns, believed to be tied to the growing meth crisis in the city.
Officers say they found six of the so-called “zip guns” in 2017, but in 2018, that number skyrocketed to 60. They’ve already found 30 this year.
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Zip guns are homemade guns typically made from the pipes of bikes, though they can be made from plumbing materials or other household items. Police say that often the guns pose more of a risk to the person holding the weapon than the intended target.
“These have no safety mechanisms,” said Const. Rob Carver. “If you are carrying this and it's got a shell in it or a piece of ammunition, it can just go off.”
On Wednesday night, the Winnipeg-based Bear Clan Patrol, a volunteer crime prevention group, found their first zip gun, a metal pipe tied to a piece wood with a door lock used as the firing pin.
“We came around the corner and the other one that was being chased was saying: ‘Help me,’ so we stopped and walked up to the youth that had the weapon and took it away from him,” said Elvis McKay, a Bear Clan volunteer.
The gun was seized and turned over to police to be destroyed.
The weapons are typically used in robberies and muggings, but the Bear Clan says they are linked to the city’s growing meth crisis.
“With the prevalence of methamphetamine, it makes people paranoid,” said James Favel, executive director of Bear Clan Patrol. “Paranoid people tend to arm themselves against perceived threats. Whether or not they exist is another thing, but they are arming themselves and that's scary.”
Winnipeg isn’t the only Manitoba city with a zip gun problem. In Brandon, police found triple the number of improvised guns from the streets in 2018 and are expecting a record number again this year.
